sadly I have yet to convince Mike………!

Blog 23 September 2015

September has come and spanked us on the bottom and it only seems like yesterday that we were having a wonderful holiday in Canada with these two here on the morning of their first day at school.  As a Mum you go through this process of getting your kids off into the run and mill of life and as a grandparent it is so easy just to let it go by without a bye or leave, especially at such a great distance. However I wrote this day in the diary so we thought about them on their first day into what life is going to dish up and then we skyped them as soon as they got home and we all agreed it might be a jolly good idea to go back tomorrow.

The back end of the summer means needing to prepare for the winter and I wanted to put the call into our local wood man to put our order in for this year.   I was unsure of what I ordered last year so I went to our accounts stored on my computer, but to my horror I could not find them.  An 8 year account of every cent we have spent whilst living here in France seemingly gone. I did an extensive computer search and it came up empty so I bit the bullet and agreed to agree that I had lost them and I would have no computer reference to our accounts. I put a little posting on Facebook saying that I had lost my time consuming accounts and my friend Shirley called and just mentioned that I might want to look in the recycle bin as her computer does not search in there. Blow me over with a passing suggestion because there they were, all excelled and waiting to be reinstated, and are now   back where I would have expected to see them. The upshot of all of this was that we only ordered one cord of wood last year and I really fancied two but the woodman solemnly announced that wood is hard to get this year….like last year I might add, but he would do what he could and three days later he delivered one and three quarter cords….I have no idea how to measure a cord and just have to trust the trusted wood supplier that a cord is a cord in any ones money

 

 

 

It probably looks like 1 and ¾ cords and it cost me 290 Euro, so no passing event. This is serious expenditure for that lovely warm corner of the kitchen.

 

 

We did another fishing excursion and made this an evening affair. We all turned up at four in the afternoon with BBQ, tents, fishing kit and enough food to feed a family of four for a year. Trevor won the trophy by landing a 20 pound carp. Shirley landed an eighteen pounder and Mike landed their baby .

 

 

 

 

Mike was not discouraged and has bought 2 more rods at the vide greniers since, and is itching to get back to the bank to prove,  he can…….

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone was involved and we stayed there till the last of the light drifted away and we came home in the dark having had a very sociable and fun night out. I must say that we have awakened Mike’s love of fishing so I can see this becoming a good day out more often than not.

 

 

 

I mentioned that Mike found more fishing rods at the vide grenier and it was at the event in Carentan that  he found a top quality rod at an average price and was very chuffed with himself, but I found myself looking at a building in Carentan that we have seen before but really hadn’t  looked hard enough

 

What a lovely building hiding behind a boot sale and sitting unassuming in a back street of Carentan. I will find out what it is and why it is there and report back to you soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK….this is a trolley bay in Carentan and we took this picture because we have just bought two second hand trolley bays to make a summer shelter for our mobile home visitors and in the winter a tractor shed to keep the snow and rain off our kit.  

 

 

 

 

 

A Bon Coin experience starts with Mike catching my attention saying… what do you think of this ??

We have the discussion, I put the phone call in, I log all the details we need to get for a viewing and then we go. This purchase was a little more risky and we decided as it was a two hour drive to St Hillare de harcouet that we would take the trailer with us just in case we were happy with the quality and would bring it home on the day.

 

Happily the structure was already dismantled and Mike and our vender loaded it up

This is our new car trailer that I thought we would probably never use again and here we are multi-tasking and we towed two trolley bays home for an exciting new project to begin. I keep all our bon coin purchase sheets in the year book I run with these blogs so in the years to come we can be reminded of the lovely people we met along the way and how we manhandled some of the wonderful things we have bought for so very little money.

 

 

We have decided where the shelter will go and an extension to the gate garden is in progress. The grass has been weed killed the membrane bought, and the railway sleepers are waiting on the top car park. All we need now is proof the grass is on it’s way out and then we can cover up and start constructing…….

 

This is the gate garden in 2009 so keep your eye on the next pictures I put up of the extension. The difference will be spectacular but it is good for us to be reminded where the garden started and how it has developed

 

 

 

This is gate garden in 2011 and now on its way to a complete makeover to include a trolley bay rain and sun shelter for people who come to use the mobile homes in July and August, and, tractor shed in winter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally ….I want us to make benches like these, they are fantastic,

sadly I have yet to convince Mike………!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and they stay, it is only fare

Blog  22 / September 2015

August is over and I can honestly say it came and went in a flash but we did manage a good crop of beans and I have 5 large bags of frozen ready for those long winter lunches. It is now September and all my crops are coming to an inevitable end. I have had a good blue berry and black berry crop but the sweet corn is a debateable success because the cobs are not ripe yet and if September does not turn a little Indian then the chickens will be feasting till November.

 

 

 The most amazing pumpkin bed is, mostly amazing, and I still wonder why the scientists who put a man on the moon cannot make this fast growing plant nutritional and the fruit interesting because all this growth is only for Halloween lanterns and ONE pie as a frozen pile in stock would be a winter disaster. We are planning to get together with those who grow and those who don’t, to compete in the most British way  and decide who  has grown  the biggest, most beautiful and who can make the best lantern. I have suggested that we try a bake off to see who can make pumpkin pie let alone who can make an edible one…I will keep you posted…

 

 

 We have three of these babies and everyday there are centimetres added to the girth and although wonderful to watch, it is a little unnerving and it is  no wonder that pumpkins  are all part of  Halloween spookiness…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally got up the courage to sort out the lilies in the pond and although Mike had bought metal posts and fencing to corral the ailing duck damaged plants, it was quite clear that dressed up like this on a very slippery pond bottom, Mike was not going to find it easy to start hammering poles into the pond floor. We came up with a brilliant idea and used an old gazibo we got from Sarah and plonked it into the water and wrapped the fencing around it ….. simple … unfortunately the dome to the gazebo  came away in transportation from the garden to the pond and the pond floor is not flat or even close to flat.

 

We now have a very wonky but beautifully shabby and chic architectural statement that says, this is where the lilies can grow and not be devoured by the ducks. I for one love it and this time next year it will look fantastic, like a pin cushion of lilies floating in the centre of the Brevands gardens of bable, long may it stay upright and in one place and not just rust into oblivion next winter…..

 

 

Here we are again all sitting around a table having a laugh, and on this occasion supporting Carol and Trevor all stalled up selling vintage clothing.  We took up the offer of free afternoon tea with a fabulous selection of cake served up on flowery crockery and proper cups and saucers. The Ferme de Banoville had an open day and we joined in. We bumped into the estate agent who showed us around our home here in Brevands and that in itself was a lovely thing  as Gill introduced us to her husband as the lovely couple she sold a house to in 2007……where does the time go, I said,  and really meant it

 

Here, Andy and Sarah, like us, have taken responsibility for an ancient French farm building and as they are far younger than us are developing an income to allow them to stay.  They are doing B&B and offering cooking classes and handcrafted gifts. I felt a momentary flutter of excitement that I should do this, but then sat back on my fat botty and thought….. nah… leave it to the youngsters and enjoy the show.

 

 

 

And on the subject of beautiful buildings we were out and about in the backend of Bayeux buying a Bon Coin special and came across this farm entrance in Tour en Bessin. Mike stopped so I could take a photo and I took a very furtive look beyond only to see a Farm house with all the farm paraphernalia you would expect to see in an old traditional farm but nothing else, no big chateaux and no gate house, just a farm. If you don’t stop and look then it is gone and I am pleased that Mike has a patient streak in him to allow me to stop and stare in wonder.

 

In the week we had one of those impossibly wet days and both went into automatic mode, got in the car, and let our mood dictate the direction and I am very pleased that we ended up in Coutance at the depot vends. Shirley who visits often said she had seen a bugle for not a lot of money, so mike, on auto pilot, made his way to see what she had seen. Mike has never played a wind instruments but has recently had an interest in learning, so ended up with not only the bugle but this wonderful euphonium just screaming out for tender loving care. Mike has spent hour’s googling, how to play a wind instrument and bought two mouth pieces to practice on whilst looking for the real thing. He has the potential of a good debouchage, good lips and face muscles and is actually getting a sound out of his instruments already. I personally think it sounds like a donkey in trouble but I have been amazed at how quickly the sound develops. The euphonium is a much more pleasant noise to the bugle and as Mike cannot play either as yet, I will encourage my big buddy on with the euphonium. The bass sound makes me smile and I am hoping that the March of the Mods will resonate our walls by Christmas…….

 


We have had  double helpings of Ron and Pauline this year as they passed through and camped on the drive on their way for another few weeks in Spain. They are wetting our appetite to take a long drive to the sun and we spent many happy hours looking at the routes they take and the sites they stay in. We love having them to stay and they lift our spirits with their enthusiasm for camper holidays and how it is all still so achievable even when you are in your late 70’s.  Ron and Pauline taught me to play crib last time they were with us but I mentioned that I have been playing on-line scrabble with my sister and two total strangers and that conversation led to a blistering three game epic on the kitchen table in which Mike wiped the floor with us. You will notice that there is wine on the table but no scrabble dictionary and that definitely felt unfair as the online game I play gives me access to a dictionary to play with letters and options but the table  game is harder and much more of a challenge but  a whole lot more sociable

 

 

 

 

It is September I know, but the shooting daffodil bulbs in the back yard are just ridiculous, but, there they are ready to go again…….

In 2008 we had our back yard dug out and the top layer of stone and soil taken away and yet this little bunch of dafs still pop their heads up at the most ridiculously out of season time.  We can do nothing about it. Mike did weed kill the area once and I dug a few bulbs out and transplanted them but there is a stubborn little dance of daffodils there so we will let them come and go and try to care for  them as best we can. The machine is actually right over where they are now so even the heavy hand of the digger in 2008 has not been able to discourage them.  So they win, and they stay, it is only fare

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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